Most people rang out the old year on December 31 and rang in the new immediately in its wake. For me, that ringing doesn’t happen until right about now - because right about now is when I wrap up one Tsock Club Tseason and prepare to launch another. Hark, now I hear them - Ding dong bell.

An eventful year it has been, too, the 2009 Tseason. Not as insane as 2008 - no Yarn Drought, thank heavens, and no major life changes of the deflocking kind. But still… here we are tsix Tsocks later, and I flatter myself there’s been some interesting knitting along the way.

We were (toe-)up in flames from the get-go: Fearful Symmetry, AKA the Flying Tiger, in tribute both to William Blake and to my cat Ptolemy.

Sometimes it’s not enough to be metaphysical. The toe of Fearful Symmetry, and its cuff, “burned bright” in the most literal sense possible…

… with little Flame Chevrons in bright orange licking around the feet of the Tyger.

Oh, and he did have feet, all right - and a tail, and a face.

And little fiery pointy bits.

Just like a proper real tiger.

I’m a little behind (so what else is new) on all sorts of things at the moment - public releases of previous club kits, responses to comments, etc. - but I don’t intend to let this one marinate much longer. It is, after all, the Year of the Tiger.

And then… we went military and operatic. Some of you are still cursing me, aren’t you, over one detail of this otherwise simple design: The Daughter of the Regiment.

Seriously. Just look at all that stockinette!

How hard could it be, right? At least, that’s what I thought. Right. Raise your hand if you thought the hem of the skirt was a piece of cake.

Anybody? No? Bueller?

sigh

OK, OK. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to let it happen again.

But on the bright side, let’s not forget the sweet little lace-up army boots…

… and the little jacket with its working button placket!

But apparently the skirt hem was too sane. Because it wasn’t until the next tsock that we really went for the crazy: Two Cassandras. Crazy subject matter. Crazy structure. Crazy high-falutin’ form-follows-function concept.

Are there still any doubts about Cassandra’s sanity?

All I can say is, there can’t be any about mine. This tsock is neither toe-up nor cuff-down; it isn’t even heel-first or ankle-first or any of the other wacko configurations I came up with in 2008. It’s… it’s… um… it’s Thingie-first. I don’t know what it is. It started with this not-quite triangular flat piece that got folded up into a not-quite cylinder - no, really, I swear I am NOT making this up -

- and it somehow worked outward from there.

It had beaded laurel wreaths, and braided hair, and dishevelled hair, and a hidden gusset…

… and a snake. It also had prophecies and truth tables and a curse.

Seriously. I am not making this up.

Oh, wait. I did make it up, didn’t I.

But it’s real now. So there.

At the heart of the matter there’s always… the artichoke. Blessed Thistle, for me, was just plain FUN, from beginning to end, from vestigial bract to thorny leaf-tip.

Yeah, so I got a little carried away with the lace patterns in graduated sizes…

… and OK, so it was a little quixotic of me to fold two leaves under to make a heel out of whole cloth…

…but seriously, now. All those leetle bracts on the stem, with NO ENDS TO WEAVE IN…

… and a puddle of melted butter for the toe? Honestly - what’s not to love?

In the bleak midwinter, frosty winds made moan; blizzard piled on blizzard, and the Snow Queen flew off the needles and into the hands of the Flock.

She was cold and frosty, lacy and dainty…

… steeped in allegory…

… and capped with beaded frozen snow.

And speaking of allegory… they don’t come a whole lot more allegorical than The Abbey. This tsock cheekily tips its hat to Jane Austen, but its resemblance to persons living is not at all coincidental. For my heavy heavy blogging sins… this one has been on the Flock’s needles for weeks, and I still haven’t published the concordance post that will explain all the in-jokes.

I will, though. Soon.

Meanwhile, there’s a fair amount to chew on just in the knitting.

In fact, there’s plenty to chew on before the knitting, because this tsock inaugurated our experiment with offering a Spinner’s Option. I don’t know yet how regularly we’ll be doing this in future, but I hope we’ll be seeing it again before long. (For my heavy, heavy blogging sins… I have yet to show you the handspun version of the prototype. Which I have spun and knitted, yes I have, honest, and I’ll show it to you when I post the Concordance. Fer realz.)

There are hyacinths, and there’s a Flying Buttress Heel, and a Clerestory, and a Cloister, and a Spindle Rose Window.

And… hang on… wasn’t there something else…?

Wait… wait… don’t tell me.

Oh - yes, I remember now.

GARGOYLES!!!!!!

A year of tsocky goodness, take it all in all.

Tsock Flock 2009, you haven’t quite heard the last of it, either. For my heavy, heavy blogging sins… I still owe you a few things. Watch your e-mail for the Free Pattern, as well as the too-long-delayed photo of Tsock #6.

And Tsock Flock 2010, please stand by, because the final countdown to Tsock #1 begins… NOW. In fact… all will be revealed tomorrow.

By the way… as I combed through the past year’s tsocks, in beautiful hindsight I picked up on this from the introduction of Fearful Symmetry:

(Incidentally, it hasn’t escaped my attention that this is the second season in a row to start toe-up with a fiery stitch pattern in a fiery color. Is this going to be a tradition? Y’got me. Tune in a year from now to find out.)

Will she or won’t she?

Heh. Stay tuned.

Better yet… don’t settle for just watching. If you haven’t already, become part of the crazy now; hop aboard while you still can.